Borgstrom, a junior star from Finland, is Central Scouting’s ninth-ranked European skater eligible for the upcoming NHL draft. McLellan is the son of Edmonton Oilers coach Todd McLellan and Fear goes 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds.

“These young men are great additions to our program and we’re thrilled they’ve decided to come to Denver,” Montgomery said in a release. “Henrik is a highly-skilled center with great size who is expected to be taken early in this summer’s NHL Draft and will be a strong presence up the middle for us. Erich is a tenacious defender with tremendous physical attributes that we believe will be a great fit on our blue line and has the potential to be a shutdown defenseman in the mold of Josiah Didier (Class of 2015). Tyson is an extremely intelligent forward that will also fit in well with the culture we’ve created here and will be able to play solid, Denver-style hockey right away for us. All three student-athletes add to our impressive depth – both up front and on the back end – and we’re looking forward to having them in Crimson & Gold next season.”

ST. PAUL, Minn — At the NCAA West Regional Saturday, when Ferris State beat St. Cloud State in overtime and Denver routed Boston University, attendance for the single-ticket semifinal doubleheader was announced as 4,926.

There weren’t nearly that “many” around during the second game to see the Pioneers romp. My eyeball estimate was 1,500. The vast majority of even that small official figure was St. Cloud State fans, who — if they came in from the school’s home city — traveled about 75 miles and left after the first game.

With the Huskies out, the DU-Ferris State is being played in front of another intimate gathering, as you can see from the above photo.

I’ve made it a practice to never try to tell anyone how to spend their entertainment dollars, so this is not an indignant rant about how these teams deserve better and the public has let them down, whether that’s taken to mean the Twin Cities hockey constituency or anyone else.

For a short-notice trip, it would have been a 900-mile drive from Denver or an airline ticket, and about a 650-mile trip from Big Rapids, Michigan — the home of Ferris State. (No, me neither … until yesterday.)

The awarding/slotting this regional to St. Paul obviously came with the hope that the University of Minnesota Gophers would make the tournament and could be assigned here.

They didn’t and weren’t.

Even having North Dakota here (instead of Cincinnati) would have led to many fans of the former Fighting Sioux to come to St. Paul.

But this all is fueling the argument that the four separate four-team regionals should be held at campus arenas, at the homes of the No. 1 seeds in each region. Or even that both of the first round and quarterfinals should be played at the home of the higher seed, before feeding into the Frozen Four.

It’s “unfair,” but it makes both economic and, well, artistic sense. It just doesn’t feel right to see games with so much on the line played in front of a crowd that, if you didn’t know better, was settling in 15 minutes before the warmup. Yes, in this case, four-team regionals would have been at St. Cloud State, Quninnipiac (Hamden, Conn.), Providence, and North Dakota (Grand Forks).

Saturday, I asked several Pioneers and DU coach Jim Montgomery if it was hard to play such a big game in front of such a small crowd. The players’ answers were pretty much the same as their coach’s, so I’ll let Montgomery speak for them.

“You know what, no,” he said. “Would you like to have a packed house? Yes. But really when you’re dialed in, your’re focused and you’re committed to each other and there’s an NCAA championship you’re playing for. It doesn’t matter, you could be playing in Siberia.”

We’ll have a nice feature on Denver freshman Troy Terry on Friday. Terry is a 2015 Anaheim Ducks draftee who is playing right wing on the Pioneers’ second line, centered by senior Quentin Shore. Terry and Shore both played youth hockey for the Littleton Hawks and Colorado Thunderbirds before joining the American all-star institution in Ann Arbor, Mich.

COLLEGE HOCKEY PREVIEW/Nov. 6-7

Colorado College (0-8, 0-2 National Collegiate Hockey Conference) vs. Denver (3-3, 0-0 NCHC)What: NCHC two-game seriesWhen/where: Friday (7:35 Magness Arena) and Saturday (7 p.m. Broadmoor World Arena)TV/Radio: Root (Friday only)/1600 AMNotes: Denver won all four games last season to reclaim the Gold Pan. Overall, the Pioneers lead the all-time series 165-116-17, played since 1949. … DU is 3-0 at home; CC is 0-6. … Pioneers junior goalie Evan Cowley is scheduled to start Friday, and may also get the nod in the finale. … DU sophomore forward Danton Heinen has nine points (five goals) in four career games against CC. … Dating to last season, the Tigers are on an 11-game losing streak. … DU sophomore Brad Hawkinson of Aurora might miss the series because of injury. … Denver has lost each of its games in overtime (two) or the last minute of regulation (at Boston College)

Coach Jim Montgomery and his University of Denver Pioneers (1-1) host the Michigan State Spartans (1-0-1) in a nonconference hockey series Friday and Saturday at Magness Arena.

DU is coming off a home-and-home series split with Air Force, losing 5-4 in overtime on opening night at the Academy before winning 3-1 in its home opener in Denver. Michigan State tied Maine 3-3 and beat Lake Superior State 4-1 last weekend in Portland, Maine.

“The focus is getting better, guys getting more comfortable playing Denver hockey and players asserting themselves in new roles,” said Pioneers coach Jim Montgomery, who is beginning his third season. “With exception of about seven players on our team, everyone else is trying to find roles this year.”

The Spartans are led by senior goalie Jake Hildebrand, a 5-foot-11 four-year starter. From Butler, Pa., Hildebrand went 9-17-2 (.928 save percentage) as a freshman, 9-15-7 (.923) as a sophomore and 17-16-2 (.930) last season on poor or average teams. MSU continues to rebuild under fifth-year coach Tom Anastos.

“Quality hockey team,” Montgomery said of the Spartans. “They have very dangerous forwards and an elite goaltender who is probably going into the year as one of the top three goaltenders — if not the top goaltender — in the country.”

Montgomery said 6-5 junior goalie Evan Cowley will likely start Friday (7:30 p.m. start) and 5-11 sophomore Tanner Jaillet will protect the nets Saturday (7 p.m.). Last weekend, as well as most of last season, Cowley was the Game 2 starter, but Montgomery is switching it up because Cowley doesn’t have classes Friday and will participate in the morning skate. Jaillet’s classes will prevent him from seeing pucks at the Friday morning skate.

Denver’s Wesley Berg (14) celebrates his goal against Maryland during the second half of the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse championship, Monday, May 25, 2015, in Philadelphia. Denver defeated Maryland 10-5. (Rich Schultz, The Associated Press)

After winning the NCAA championship in men’s lacrosse and a strong showing from the ice hockey team, the Denver Pioneers finished fifth in the 2014-15 Capital One Men’s Cup standings for the best Division I college athletics program.

DU’s Nolan Zajac tries to get around Rensselaer’s Mike Prapavessis during the second period Saturday night at Magness Arena. (Brent Lewis, The Denver Post)

The University of Denver will kick off the college hockey season as it hosts the 2016 Ice Breaker Tournament, which takes place Oct. 7-8 at Magness Arena.

Joining the Pioneers in the tournament are Air Force, Boston College and Ohio State. Denver won the tournament when the Pioneers last hosted the event in 1999, the year Magness Arena opened.

“This tournament is one of the top showcase events for college hockey in the country and we’re thrilled that our great fans will again have the opportunity to experience it firsthand,” Denver coach Jim Montgomery said in a news release from the school.

The University of Maine will host the tournament in 2015. Minnesota won in 2014. Tickets information will be announced by DU in the future.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Last week in Calgary, former Boston College star Johnny Gaudreau and former University of Denver standout Joe Colborne made a bet between Flames teammates. Gaudreau, the 2014 Hobey Baker Award winner who had three goals and six points in BC’s 6-2 win over DU in last year’s NCAA Tournament, took his Eagles.

DU coach Jim Montgomery, who coached Gaudreau in juniors, is excited to see Johnny Hockey in a crimson and gold sweater with “DENVER” across the chest.

“Because of a real good Pios alum, ‘Jumbo’ Joe Colborne, I can’t wait to watch a former player that I coached, John Gaudreau — Johnny Hockey — wear a Pioneer jersey, as he lost his bet,” Montgomery said while opening his postgame press conference.

Denver Pioneers coach Jim Montgomery is a no-nonsense type of guy. But he thinks it’s nonsense that come college hockey folks don’t think senior defenseman Joey LaLeggia is one of the top three players in the country. Montgomery knows much about the Hobey Baker Award, and how character, teamwork and sportsmanship factor in. He helped Maine linemate Paul Kariya become the only freshman to win it in 1993 and believes LaLeggia is the ideal candidate this year.

“I don’t think Joey LaLeggia gets enough credit for how dominant a player he’s been this year,” Montgomery said. “To me, he’s undeniably a Hobey Hat Trick finalist. He’s the most dominant player in the best conference in college hockey, and as a defenseman he leads the conference in scoring. I think he’s being overlooked because most of his great plays are happening when most people are asleep on the East Coast.”

LaLeggia, a 2012 Edmonton Oilers’ draftee, leads the National Collegiate Hockey Conference in scoring, with 29 points (12 goals) in 22 league games. In overall scoring, LaLeggia is third (35 points in 31 games) behind teammates Danton Heinen and Trevor Moore. The NCHC has five of the top eight teams in the PairWise Rankings.Read more…

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DU went on to win the inaugural National Collegiate Hockey Conference tournament championship, advance to the NCAA Tournament and finish 20-16-6. CC was mostly bad at 7-24-6, and it cost coach Scott Owens his job.

Montgomery regrets not preparing his team for the Gold Pan rivalry the way Owens undoubtedly did. Losing the Gold Pan was DU’s downer in an otherwise excellent “rebuilding” campaign.

a) Lost a smidgen — that’s a technical football term — of speed since his time as one of the top high school recruits in the country, and his first days at Alabama before he suffered serious knee injuries; and,

b) Mitigated that some by being a tough runner who doesn’t just avoid shying away from contact, but often senses its inevitability and uncoils, even initiating the hit.

At first, at least stylistically, I thought of Walter Payton, who was of a similar fearless style. Payton didn’t consider gingerly stepping out of bounds to be an option. My father spent three seasons as the Chicago Bears’ offensive line coach during Payton’s prime, and he always considered Payton the “best football player” he ever was around. To veteran football men, or even those who intuitively understand the game, “football player” isn’t a cliche; it’s the ultimate compliment. There are a lot of guys in the Hall of Fame who weren’t “football players.” Read more…

DU head coach Jim Montgomery said there were three potential players who could get drafted. I was able to get a hold of one player but ran into issues with the other two. One of them was on a family vacation in Belize and Danton Heinen had a Canadian number.

So I ran around the office trying to use all the phones that had international calling but none of them worked. Maybe I had a wrong number or maybe I was calling Canada wrong but three different phones didn’t work.

I haven’t seen an official announcement from the league, but the Brett Hull Award goes to the BCHL’s points leader, and Smith’s 83 points were matched by Victoria’s Myles Fitzgerald, a fellow 20-year-old who has committed to Bemidji State. Fitzgerald produced 27 goals and 56 assists.

Other Brett Hull Award winners include former DU standouts Tyler Bozak (2007) and Beau Bennett (2010), who are currently playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins, respectively. Brett Hull racked up a league-record 188 points in 1984.

Smith, who attended Arapahoe High in Centennial and admittedly is a family friend, was captain of the 2010 Colorado Thunderbirds’ U16 team that won the state’s first Tier I, triple-A national championship. He previously played for Cedar Rapids and Chicago of the United States Hockey League, under the guidance of DU and the former staff led by George Gwozdecky, who was fired April 1.

DU players listen to their new coach at his April introductory news conference. (Kathyrn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)

My story on Jim Montgomery continuing to settle in as DU’s hockey coach is in the Tuesday paper and here. I was filling in for the vacationing Mike Chambers.

I’m on record that DU’s firing of George Gwozdecky with a year remaining on his contract was misguided and I’m cynical about some of the reasons for the move. I’m far from alone on that, of course. Gwozdecky recently withdrew from consideration for the Alabama-Huntsville job (it was his if he wanted it) and continues to be in the semi-comfortable position of being able to sit out this season and likely be able to select from opportunities for the 2014-15 season.

But yes, it’s time to move on, at least when dealing with the DU program. Montgomery’s background as both a journeyman pro who played parts of six seasons in the NHL and then won two USHL championships as GM and coach of the expansion Dubuque Fighting Saints is impressive.

I’ll have a retooled story in the morning paper and posted online in the overnight cycle, too. That differs slightly, cutting out some of the news conference quotes that will be old by morning and adding some comments from my brief one-on-one talk with Gwozdecky after the news conference.

Most significantly, Gwozdecky talked a little more about what he thought of the coaching staff’s work in this, his final season.

New Hampshire head coach Dick Umile, left, is congratulated by assistant coach David Lassonde after a win.

If Denver wants George Gwozdecky’s successor to be someone familiar with the tradition-rich program, the following five ex-Pioneers players and coaches will likely have preliminary conversations with the search committee:

1. Mike Corbett, Air Force associate head coach — Former Frank Serratore-recruited DU defenseman has been Serratore’s right-hand man since 2003, helping lead the Falcons to five NCAA Tournaments in the past seven years. Corbett, 41, played his final three seasons for Gwozdecky (1994-97) and is known as an excellent recruiter and player’s coach who demands structure and discipline. He was married and raised a child while at DU.

DU took a huge step in keeping its home-ice playoff streak alive with Friday’s wild 5-4 victory over North Dakota at Magness Arena. The Pios, who go for the series sweep tonight (7 p.m., Root), climbed into a favorable tie with Wisconsin for the sixth and final WCHA home-ice spot of the 12-team league, in which DU and UND are bolting after this season.

The Pios have a game in hand over UW and also have 11 wins to the Badgers’ 10, so the spot is technically theirs. Five games remain for DU, which visits Minnesota next weekend before hosting Alaska-Anchorage the following week. DU has hosted a first-round WCHA series since 2004.

Check out our game story from Friday’s wild game. The paper version didn’t include quotes; this online version does. Pretty sure that was the longest NCAA non-overtime game I have ever covered.

No changes in DU’s lineup, which can only feature 21 players because the Pios only have 21 players available. Junior forward Jarrod Mermis remains on a leave of absence. Jussi Olkinuora gets another start in net.

The DU Pioneers (15-9-5, 10-7-5 WCHA) haven’t started the playoffs on the road since 2003, but unless they move north in the WCHA standings, they’ll have that 10-year streak snapped. The Pios sit seventh in the 12-team WCHA, two pionts behind No. 6 Wisconsin (13-10-7, 10-7-7), which has played two more games.

DU tonight opens a two-game set against visiting North Dakota (16-8-6, 11-5-6), which is tied for fourth in the WCHA, three points ahead of DU. Looking ahead, DU plays a two-game series at Minnesota next weekend before finishing up with Alaska-Anchorage at Magness Arena on March 8 and March 10.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.